Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Knight of Grace, Boer War and Great War group awarded to Colonel S. M. Smith, C.B., R.A.M.C., Surgeon-in-Chief to the St John Ambulance Brigade in France

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of Justice, neck badge and breast star, silver and enamel; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 (Civ. Surgeon S. M. Smith. 3/Bn. Welsh Rgt.); 1914-15 Star (Major S. M. Smith. R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Col. S. M. Smith.); French Croix de Guerre, 1914 1917, the last five mounted as worn, good very fine (7) £600-700

C.B. (Military) London Gazette 1 January 1918.

K.St.J. London Gazette 24 November 1916.

M.I.D. London Gazette 4 January 1917, 24 December 1917, and 30 December 1918.

Sidney Maynard Smith was born on 20 September 1875, the son of a civil engineer holding an Admiralty appointment at Chatham. He was educated at Epsom College, where he gained the entrance scholarship in Science to St Mary’s Hospital in 1893, and served as House Surgeon in 1898. He qualified M.R.C.S. 1898; F.R.C.S. 1902; M.B. Lond. 1904; B.S. (Hons.) 1905. He served in the South African War as Civil Surgeon with the 3rd Battalion Welsh Regiment, gaining the Queen’s Medal with two clasps, and on his return to London he was elected House Surgeon to the Victoria Hospital for Children in Tite Street, Chelsea, in 1901, was Assistant Surgeon in 1907-14, but was never full surgeon.

At St Mary’s Hospital he was appointed Surgical Registrar in 1904, Demonstrator of Anatomy in 1905, Surgeon to Out-patients with charge of the Orthopaedic Department in 1906, and full Surgeon in 1922. Maynard Smith was also Surgeon to the London Fever Hospital, to Epsom College, to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Ealing, and to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institute for Girls, and was for many years Hon. Secretary to the Old Epsomian Society.

During the European War he was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief to the St John Ambulance Brigade in 1914, and proceeded to France early in 1915 with the Hon. rank of Major. He quickly made a reputation both as an administrator and as a surgeon, was appointed Consulting Surgeon to the Fifth Army in 1916, and was chiefly responsible for the treatment of the wounded during the great battles for Passchendaele in 1917. He was subsequently appointed Consultant Surgeon to the Second Army. For his services to the French Army during the fighting round Kemmel he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. For his war services he was three times mentioned in despatches, was decorated C.B., and was created a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Returning to London at the end of the War, he continued to practise privately and carry out his hospital duties until his death on 18 March 1928.